Recon Instruments Prepares For Jet Smart Glasses Production

Google Glass might be getting the lion’s share of wearables headlines, but that isn’t stopping Recon Instruments from going full steam ahead with a variety of wearables all its own. A while back, we told you about the Recon Snow2 HUD, which sits inside a pair of goggles and offers information at a glance to skiers and snowboarders. Unwilling to stop at just the alpine sports, Recon has announced some encouraging news about the Jet, a pair of smart glasses aimed primarily at cyclists.

According to CEO Dan Eisenhardt, the Recon Jet is ready to move into production, which is sure to be exciting news for anyone who pre-ordered a pair of the tech specs. The Recon Jet was originally supposed to ship out to consumers at the end of last year, but like many things in the technology world, it was hit with delays and now has an expected ship date that falls somewhere within spring 2014. Given this news, it seems like the Recon Jet is on track to meet that goal, so if you pre-ordered a pair, keep your fingers crossed.

Eisenhardt also took this opportunity to show off the Jet UI, which will be used to show cyclists things like performance metrics and notifications from their smartphone. Jet headsets will be utilizing ReconOS, the operating systems that got its start on the company’s Snow HUDs. Eisenhardt also shared a screen capture of a revamped Recon Engage, a web service which is currently being expanded to track metrics across multiple sports. Make no mistake, while Google Glass seems ready to take the mainstream crowd by storm, Recon is content using its wearables technology to deliver mountains of information to sports enthusiasts. Cornering this niche appears to have worked well for the company so far, so it’s little surprise we’re now seeing Recon work to refine the experience.

The Recon Jet is, in many ways, similar to the Snow2 in that it offers information on current speed, gain, elevation, and distance traveled. You can use Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or ANT+ to connect a range of third party devices including heart rate and cadence monitors. You’ll also have the ability to connect your smartphone to the Jet, which allows you to use SMS, see your incoming calls, and connect to the Internet through the HUD. Today’s announcement unfortunately wasn’t accompanied by any talk of a concrete release date, but Eisenhardt says that information will come once Recon has figured out scheduling. Let’s hope it settles on a schedule sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.